kind of mortar with dry grass or straw; hovels and sheds for temporary purposes are still sometimes built in a similar way, and roofed in with ling. Laid on the ground, with the flowers above, it forms a soft springy bed, the luxurious couch of the ancient Gael, still gladly resorted to at times by the hill shepherd or hardy deer-stalker. The young shoots were in former days employed as a substitute for hops in brewing, while their astringency rendered them valuable as a tanning material in Ireland and the Western Isles. They are said also to have been used by the High- landers for dyeing woollen yarn yellow, and other colours are asserted to have been obtained from them, but some writers appear to confuse the dyer’s-weed, Genista tinctoria, with the heather. The young juicy shoots and the seeds, which remain long in the capsules, furnish the red grouse of Scotland with the larger portion of its sustenance; the ripe seeds are eaten by many birds. The tops of the ling afford a considerable part of the winter fodder of the hill flocks, and are popularly supposed to communicate the fine flavour to Welsh and Highlaud mutton, but sheep seldom crop heather while the mountain grasses and rushes are sweet and accessible. In recent times ling has been suggested as a material for paper, but the stems are hardly sufficiently fibrous for that purpose. The purple or fine- leaved heath, KF. cinerea, one of the most beautiful of the genus, abounds on the lower moors and commons of Great Britain and western Europe, in such situations being some- times more prevalent than the ling. The flowers of both these species yield much honey, furnishing a plentiful supply to the bees in moorland districts ; from this heath honey the Picts probably brewed the mead said by
Boetius to have been made from the flowers theinselves.It was until recently supposed that no species of heath existed in America ; but of late years isolated plants of ling have been found in various parts of New England, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton, while it has been stated to occur in some abundance in several places in Newfoundland ; probably in distant ages it may have had a wider range on the American continent. The whole group, as observed by Bentham, is “eminently Atlantic” in its present distribu- tion,—of nearly 500 known species by far the greater part being indigenous to the western districts of South Africa, and nearly all the remainder limited to Europe and its adjacent islands.
The Cape heaths have long been favourite objects of horticulture. In the warmer parts of Britain several will bear exposure to the cold of ordinary winters in a sheltered border, but most need the protection of the conservatory. They are sometimes raised from seed, but are chiefly multi- plied by cuttings “struck” in sand, and afterwards trans- ferred to pots filled with a mixture of black peat and sand ; the peat should be dry and free from sourness. Much attention is requisite in watering heaths, as they seldom recover if once allowed to droop, while they will not bear much water about their roots: the heath-house should be light and well ventilated, the plants requiring sun, and soon perishing in a close or permanently damp atmosphere ; in England little or no heat is needed in ordinary seasons. The European heaths succeed well in English gardens, only requiring a peaty soil and sunny situation to thrive as well as in their native localities: £. carnea, mediterranea, ciliaris, vagans, and the pretty cross-leaved heath of boggy moors, £. tetralix, are among those most worthy of cultiva- tion. The beautiful large-flowered St Dabeoc’s heath, belonging to the closely allied genus Menzzesia, is likewise often seen in gardens.
HEATHCOAT, John (1783–1861), the author of important inventions for facilitating the manufacture of Buckingham or French lace, was born at Duffield near Derby in 1783. During his apprenticeship to a framesmith near Loughborough, he made an improvement in the construc- tion of the warp-loom, so as to produce mitts of a lace-like appearance by means of it. He commenced business on his own account at Nottingham, but finding himself subjected to the intrusion of competing inventors he removed to Hathern. There he diligently prosecuted his experiments, and in 1808 constructed a machine cap- able of producing an exact imitation of real pillow-lace. This was by far the most expensive and complex textile apparatus till then existing; and in describing the pro- cess of his invention, Heathcoat said in 1836, ‘The single difficulty of getting the diagonal threads to twist in the allotted space was so great that, if now to be done, I should probably not attempt its accomplishment.” Some time before perfecting his invention, which he patented in 1809, he removed to Loughborongh, where he entered into partnership with Mr Lacy, a Nottingham manufacturer; but in 1816 their factory was attacked by the Luddites and the lace frames destroyed. The damages were assessed in the King’s Bench at £10,000 ; but as Heathcoat declined to expend the money in the county of Leicester he never received any part of it. Undaunted by his loss, he began at once to construct new and greatly improved machines in an unoccupied factory at Tiverton, Devonshire, pro- pelling them by water-power and afterwards by steam. His claim to the invention of the twisting and traversing lace machine was disputed, and a patent was taken out by a clever workman for a similar machine, which was decided at a trial in 1816 to be an infringement of Heathcoat’s patent. He followed his great invention by others of much ability, as, for instance, contrivances for ornamenting net while in course of manufacture and for making ribbons and platted and twisted net upon his machines, improved yarn spinning-frames, and methods for winding raw silk from cocoons. He also patented an im- proved process for extracting and purifying salt. An offer of £10,000 was made to him in 1833 for the use of his processes in dressing aud finishing silk nets, but he allowed the highly profitable secret to remain undivulged. In 1832 he patented a steam plough, which stood foremost in public estimation until superseded by those of Fowler and others. Heathcoat was elected member of parliament for Tiverton in 1832, Though he seldom spoke in the House he was constantly engaged on committees, where his thorough knowledge of business and sound judgment were highly valued. He retained his seat until 1859, and after two years of declining health he died in January 1861 at Bolham House, near Tiverton.
HEATING. In temperate latitudes the climate is gene- rally such as to necessitate in dwellings, during a great portion of the year, a temperature warmer than that out of doors, and, similarly, tropical plants growing in temperate climates require artificial heat in the house in which they are preserved. Thus heating is required for health and comfort: the object of the application of science is to obtain these with the greatest degree of economy. In its aspect as to health it may be assumed that no system of heating is advisable which does not provide for a constant renewal of the air in the locality warmed. In climates such as that of the United Kingdom, the temperature of living rooms should be maintained at from 54° to 68° Fahr. in the daytime; the night temperature may be lower, but should not fall below 40°; and the humidity of the air as measured by the wet and dry bulb thermometers should show a difference of not less than 4° nor much exceeding 8° between the two thermometers, although with an ample supply of air a greater degree of dryness would probably not be found objectionable.
